dell strikes a $24 billion deal to go private. what the buyout means for investors and the technology industry. >> susie: the u.s. government wants as much as $5 billion from standard and poors, officially accusing the credit ratings agency of fraud during the housing boom. >> tom: and earnings from a trio of consumer stocks finds us spending money on eating out and watching tv. >> susie: that and more tonight on "n.b.r." >> tom: a bold new chapter for computer maker dell was opened today. michael dell said today he's taking the company he founded almost 30 years ago private. it's a $24.5 billion deal offering dell investors $13.65 per share. now, at one point, dell was the largest p.c. maker in the world, boasting market capitalization of more than $100 billion. now, it sits behind apple, hewlett packard and lenovo, valued a fifth of what it once was. ruben ramirez begins are coverage. >> reporter: michael dell admits he missed the consumer shift away from the p.c. to tablets and smartphones, but today's announcement his company is going private doesn't necessary address how dell is

his own technology research firm, g.v.a. research. >> susie: so, david, the big question of the day, today was what can michael dell do with his dell computer company as a private company he couldn't do as a public company? what's different, really? >> out of the public eye, dell can go through some fairly wrenching shifts in terms of the mix of business the company has, and be able to do so without necessarily having to essentially hold the hand of public sector equity investors. from that standpoint, we can look at a fairly strong deemphasis of the customer p.c. business. the company will most likely stay with the enterprise. but what the company does in terms of trying to pursue or stay relevant to this shift over to tablet p.c.s and smartphones remains a very open question. >> susie: these are uncertain times for any p.c.-maker. it is isn't a dell-only problem. you wonder can michael dell really fix things up at dell? >> certainly he has done well enough in the past. but investors have been scratching their heads in the last five years, wondering what is the next great idea mich

a bright spot for the u.s. economy. thanks to new fracking technology, surging domestic production cut crude oil imports last year by 227 million barrels. but that success was offset somewhat by imports of manufactured goods. >> the flip side of the coin is that our imports of non-oil goods are still going up. they're going up pretty rapidly. and that is of great concern to me as an economist. those are the things that compete with our own manufactured products. >> reporter: china remains a major competitor for u.s. companies. our trade deficit with china hit a record $315 billion last year. separately, china reported it's exports grew 25% over a year ago, easily beating expectations. the robust growth was attributed to aggressive new lending by chinese banks. >> just a few months ago, the chinese economy was in contraction. we've seen really two or three months where we are seeing much stronger growth in china and that's increasing the demand for goods there. >> reporter: but analysts say the news from china may have been somewhat distorted by statistical quirks and the start of the c

'm tom hudson. weakness in technology shares helps derail a five-week runnup on wall street, we look at stocks and the individual investor. >> susie: and michael dell could be taking the computer company that bears his name private, as soon as this week. a look at what going private means for investors. >> tom: that and more tonight on "n.b.r."! >> susie: entirely without legal merit, that's what standard and poor's is calling a potential lawsuit by the department of justice, for s&p's mortgage bond ratings ahead of the financial crisis. these charges come five years after the financial crisis and would be the first alleging illegal behavior by a major ratings agency. as darren gersh reports, s&p is fighting back. >> reporter: what took so long? that's the reaction from critics who have long argued standard and poor's gave a stamp of approval to flawed mortgage securities that helped bring on the financial crisis. >> it has to do with the unique role that ratings agencies play in the entire system of selling and distributing securities and the claims that they de about their role for

at home. >> one of those advantaged manufacturers you do like in the scenario is united technologies makes carrier air conditions, aches otis elevator, pratt and whitny jet engines, what dow like utx for. >> we think it is at the forefront of a number of things going on in the global economy. as you mentioned, air conditioners, elevators and escalators, these are all components of a return to commercial real estate. and carrier and otis are the two leading brands in that arena. >> so to some degree a play the return of t u.s. real estate market. >> oh, absolutely. we think there is definitely room for both residential and commercial construction over the next few years. >> let me ask you about borg-warner, an auto parts supplier you also like here, europe is creeping back into the concern category, it definitely is, things aren't all golden within your -- >> what we see within a company like borg-warner is that our bottom process leads us to understand where they're going to be 2, 3, 4, years down the roa a wre lkingfor technology driven companies that can manage their way through little b

. qualcomm has benefited from demand for fourth generation wireless technology called l.t.e. after initially having trouble meeting demand for chips, it said that's behind it. shipping giant united parcel service failed to deliver in the fourth quarter. while earnings per share were up from last year, they came in six cents per share shy of estimates, and it warned it expects a "below trend," economic recovery this year. despite offering to buy back more stock after its deal to buy a dutch delivery company was stopped by european regulators, shares fell 2.4%. three of the five most actively traded exchange traded products were higher, led by the russell 2000 tracking fund, up 0.7%. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> susie: here's an interesting statistic: every minute, a business owned by women opens up. and here in the u.s., new female entrepreneurs are expected to help the job recovery. ruben ramirez looks at why women are finding it easier today to start a business. >> reporter: hewlett-packard may have gotten its start in a garage. but here in new york, this new business was born in

moved on the nasdaq. the technology sector saw the biggest drop, falling 1.6%. the financial and consumer discretionary sectors were down by more than 1% each. weighing on the market this afternoon was the news we reported at the beginning of the program: the possible federal government civil lawsuit against credit ratings agency standard and poor's over its handling of mortgage bond ratings during the housing boom. s&p 500 parent company mcgraw hill fell about $7 per share in an hour and a half. it finished the day down 13.8%. the stock's worst single day drop since the stock market crash of 1987. fellow bond ratings agency moody's also got hit, dropping 10.7% on heavy volume. two years ago the financial crisis inquiry commission called the big credit ratings agencies, "key enablers," of the financial crash. moody's has not been mentioned as part of the expected action from the justice department. while the market awaits to hear if there's a deal to take dell private, another tech giant is making a deal. orcale wants to buy telecommunications gear maker acme packet. oracle's

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